Gabrielle Bluestone

'Twas the weekend before Christmas, and all through the Snarf's Sandwich Shop in Chicago, not a creature was stirring — because management sent out an email on Sunday firing all the employees.

Due to "increased competition," the store's director of operations decided that the best way to gain traction in Chicago's sandwich industry would be to give Snarf's twenty food assemblers one day's notice that, "Merry Christmas, you have no job."

“During the Christmas holiday we’re pretty slow,” director of marketing and current jobholder Jill Preston told the Chicago Grid. “The restaurant’s usually three quarters closed. This does happen to coincide, but this is something we’ve had planned for awhile.”

She did not explain why the employees received one day's notice about "something we've had planned for awhile."